


Scissors

by jessenigma



Category: ACCA13区監察課 | ACCA 13-ku Kansatsuka
Genre: Gen, Hair, M/M, Post-Canon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-15
Updated: 2019-07-15
Packaged: 2020-06-28 16:34:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,590
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19816192
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jessenigma/pseuds/jessenigma
Summary: "Nino, did you know Jean used to cut my hair when I was little?" Lotta asked brightly one Tuesday morning as she buttered a piece of toast."Oh?" Nino said, still only half awake as he absently brushed back a tangled lock of hair."So if you’re still having trouble finding the right place to get your hair cut in this neighborhood, we should still have the scissors somewhere and I’m sure Jean wouldn't mind –"





	Scissors

“Nino, did you know Jean used to cut my hair when I was little?” Lotta asked brightly one Tuesday morning as she buttered a piece of toast.

“Oh?” Nino said, still only half awake as he stood by the coffee pot, waiting with mugs in hand for it to finish brewing. He really couldn't do those late nights any more, he thought as he absently brushed back a tangled lock of hair, before guiltily realizing that Lotta had been telling him all about her memories of Jean's expert haircutting skills and he hadn't taken in a single word. _Sorry, Lotta_.

“So if you’re still having trouble finding the right place to get your hair cut in this neighborhood, we should still have the scissors somewhere and I’m sure Jean wouldn't mind – oh shoot, I’m gonna be late!”

With half-eaten toast in one hand and her schoolbag in the other, Lotta was out the door before Nino could even finish pouring his coffee. Huh. Why would Lotta tell him about that now – oh. _Oh_.

His hair was getting a little long, it was true, but between packing up his old apartment, wrapping up work, and settling into life with the Otus siblings, there hadn’t been much time for him to find somewhere new. And just thinking about slogging all the way back across town to the familiar place around the corner from his old building was exhausting. Putting a trim off a little longer couldn’t hurt, right?

It’s not, Nino thought, like he had a work dress code to follow any more. He leaned against the counter and sipped at his coffee, a small smile hovering just outside the corners of his mouth.

Jean walked into the kitchen then, his eyes only half-open as he started towards the coffee pot. Nino gently nudged him towards the kitchen table instead, setting a mug in front of Jean’s usual seat and settling into the chair next to him.

“Where do you get your hair cut, Jean?” he asked curiously after Jean had taken a few long sips of his coffee. Now that Lotta had brought it up…

“Hmm… wherever’s closest,” Jean muttered into his mug, his voice nearly cracking with a yawn. His eyes were fully shut now.

“Is that why you’ve had the same boring haircut since you were five?” Nino teased.

Jean looked up from his coffee and stared at Nino bleary-eyed as he worked out his question. The sharp look that eventually followed was interrupted by a yawn.

A smile blossomed in full force on Nino’s face.

He’d ask Jean about it again later.

-

Three weeks later, late on a quiet Saturday night, a drop of water from his freshly washed hair trickled down Nino’s neck as he came into the bedroom and found Jean tucked up in their bed, his glasses on, idly flipping through a magazine. He looked up and smiled sleepily at Nino, closing the magazine as he did.

“What’s that?” Nino asked curiously. Jean wasn’t normally one for magazines, and he especially wasn’t one for magazines with titles like... Men’s Hair Monthly?

“This? I dunno, it’s been in the living room for a week and I found it in our bathroom earlier. I thought maybe you left it in there.” Jean shrugged and dropped the magazine on his nightstand.

Huh. This felt familiar.

“I think it’s Lotta’s,” Nino said, retrieving a comb from the top of their dresser and starting to work it through his damp hair. “She was talking about haircuts the other day.”

Jean blinked at him confusedly. His eyes looked owlishly wide behind his glasses as he glanced from Nino’s face to Nino’s hair.

“Is that why you asked me where I get my hair cut? Do you want a haircut?”

“Well, it has been a while –” Nino hissed softly as his comb caught on a bad tangle and pulled painfully. His hair apparently liked to knot once it was past his ears, and he wasn’t getting any better at detangling it. Maybe he should, he thought, just pick somewhere and get his hair cut already. It’d make Lotta happy and maybe then he could just comb his hair without _waging war_ _on it_.

“Come over here and let me do it, Nino,” Jean's voice cut in to Nino's frustrated thoughts. Jean had sat up from his pillows and was patting the blankets in front of him. Quietly relieved that he wouldn't have to wrestle with the unexpected demands of his overgrown hair, Nino sat down and tried to hand the cursed comb to Jean.

“No, I’ll just...” Jean trailed off as his fingers gently slid into Nino's hair. Carefully, Jean began to unpick the tangles and comb through the blue locks. Nino's eyes started to drift shut at the soothing feel of Jean's warm hands stroking his head. A new feeling he couldn’t place tickled inside him.

“So, I heard you used to cut Lotta’s hair?” Nino murmured, willing himself to stay awake just a bit longer. Jean paused for a heartbeat but resumed his work with a short puff of a laugh next to Nino’s ear.

“Oh yeah, I did. Mom used to cut Dad’s hair all the time when I was a kid to save money. Mine too. When I got older, she taught me how to cut hers.”

Jean fell silent as he concentrated on detangling a particularly nasty snarl at Nino's neck. His hands were even gentler now and Nino could feel him trying not to tug.

“Anyway, Lotta’s hair is a lot like Mom’s,” Jean resumed as he finally undid the troublesome knot, “and cutting it myself was easier than trying to take her to a salon when she was really little. I cut it until she was 9 and said it was too embarrassing to have her brother cut her hair at home any more. One of our building’s tenants has a salon, I think she goes there now.”

The conversation died down completely then and Nino drifted half-asleep as deft hands worked the last few tangles in his hair free.

“There, all done,” Jean said with a yawn.

Nino's eyes popped open as Jean's hands left his hair. Jean was sat back against his pillows once more and was setting his glasses and the comb on the nightstand as Nino turned to look at him, almost indignant over the loss of those hands running through his hair.

Nino never wanted that soft pressure to stop.

“Is it okay if I turn the lights out now?” Jean asked, his hand hovering near the bedside lamp. Nino nodded and as the room fell dark, he slipped into his side of the bed. After he settled in, Jean pressed himself against him, his body warm against Nino’s back.

There was a quiet, joyful thrill in his stomach as Nino felt Jean’s hand begin to stroke through his hair once more. The stroke of Jean’s hand was slower this time and somehow even gentler than before, as the man started to doze off against him. Nino’s eyes were drifting shut again too, and the last thing he heard before he fell asleep was “...you have to get a haircut?” mumbled against his shoulder.

-

Shortly before dinner two days later, Lotta triumphantly handed Nino a business card. He eyed it confusedly until he saw the logo. Ah. Scissors.

“I picked up a card for you at the salon I always go to. The woman who owns it lives in this building, and she gives us the friends and family discount. I talked to her today when I went in and she said she would definitely extend it to you too since you’re Jean’s fiancé!”

Lotta beamed at him, the pot of spaghetti waiting to be served obviously forgotten in her enthusiasm for fixing Nino’s hair.

“I could call and get you an appointment with her, Nino. You too, Jean.” Lotta turned to her brother, whose relaxed expression looked a little too deliberately relaxed by Nino’s estimation. “Trying a new haircut could be a nice change for both of you!”

Jean somehow managed to look even more neutral than he did before as Lotta’s excited words bubbled over. In that moment, watching Jean, Nino could almost feel the delicate caress of the man’s hand against his head, the comforting strokes through his hair. The weight of Jean’s eyes behind his glasses as he looked at Nino’s hair. The quiet vibration of Jean’s half-mumbled question against his skin.

_Did_ he have to get a haircut? Suddenly Nino knew.

“Oh, I don’t know, Lotta,” he said airily, half an eye on Jean even as he talked to Lotta. “A change would be good, but I was thinking it might be nice to grow my hair out and wear it like the men do in Rokkusu.”

Three... two... one... _Bingo_.

From the corner of his eye, Nino watched as Jean's eyes grew wide and a blush began dusting his cheeks. He coughed and turned away, but Nino could still see pink creeping up to the tops of his ears. Lotta's eyes were big as she looked back and forth between the two men, and after a few moments she squeaked out a small giggle.

“Chief Officer Grossular did have nice hair, didn’t he, Jean?” Lotta asked, laughing. Jean buried his face in his hands then, the sleeves of his shirt doing nothing to hide the pink of his ears.

Well then. It looked like Nino was definitely going to keep growing out his hair.

**Author's Note:**

> This story originally started out as me basically using Lotta to talk about how much I wished Nino's hair were just a bit shorter in the latest OVA promo image bc it reminded me of when I've gone too long between haircuts with my short hair, but then somehow morphed into me going "actually, long hair is good"? I don't know either.
> 
> As always, I would love to jabber on about Natsume Ono's work on [twitter](https://twitter.com/jessinbooks) pretty much any time, feel free to gimme a shout!


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